Pub plan 'endangers children'

CASULA residents continue to rally against a proposed 24-hour pub which they say will expose children at a nearby public school to inappropriate behaviour.

The action group organised to protest against the proposed Hume Highway development, the Casula Community Group for Responsible Planning, held a street meeting to discuss the project last Thursday and more than 70 people attended.

Resident Chriss Moore said they were concerned that a pub less than 200 metres from the school would be a danger to children.

"The children will have to walk past it going to school and who knows what they will be exposed to," Mrs Moore said.

"There is plenty of evidence that alcohol leads to increased violence on the streets and domestic violence in the home.

"We didn't buy into this quiet residential area to have a 24-hour pub with a 24-hour gaming licence open up next door to us."

Liverpool Hospital surgeon John Crozier and manager of the Alcohol Community Action Project, Tony Brown, addressed the meeting about the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption.

The development was on public exhibition until last Friday and the matter is now due to go before an Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel and then Liverpool Council for a vote.

Liverpool councillor Tony Hadchiti, who represents the South Ward, which takes in Casula, attended the street meeting but said he couldn't comment on his view on a pending development application.

"We will take the concerns of the residents into account when we assess the application," Cr Hadchiti said.

"There's a statewide crackdown on alcohol-fuelled violence at the moment and that will need to be considered."

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said he could not comment on the development application.

"But that area isn't residential: that's on the highway so it has a commercial zoning," Cr Mannoun said.

"The application will be thoroughly scrutinised and the residents' concerns considered."